Alex Pearce is happy to bide his time after being dropped by manager Brendan Rodgers following the 3-2 defeat by Peterborough United last month.

The 20-year-old Academy graduate had played every minute of Royals’ first 10 games of the season in the league and cup, before he was axed from Rodgers’ two squads for the games against Watford and Preston.

Pearce then returned to the bench for Reading’s 2-0 defeat by Middlesbrough as Rodgers said he was giving the youngster a “mental and physical” break after less than a quarter of a season played.

But Reading’s vice-captain revealed that even though he had been out of action he still felt wanted to be in the first-team squad.

The young centre-back said: “I haven’t been involved, but still feel very much part of the group, so it’s all well and good.

“You’ve got to sit and wait your turn when you’ve got good competition in the team. There’s a few good players in my position at the football club at the minute so I have to bide my time.”

Only goalkeeper Adam Federici and on-loan Chelsea left-back Ryan Bertrand have started all 11 of Reading’s Championship games this season, with Rodgers using 26 different players as he looks for the winning formula.

And Pearce realises that the squad have a lot of work to do as they go into the international break sitting in 21st place just one point above the relegation zone.

Pearce said: “It’s disappointing going into the two-week break like this and we need to try and consolidate now and keep our heads up and carry on.

“It was a disappointing result against Middlesbrough and it just didn’t click for us. Everything was right building up to the game and we all felt so down in the changing room after the match.

“Against Preston it worked out really well, but then against Boro it didn’t work out for us and it was an off day. It’s about bouncing back now and how we recover from it.”

Reading face a tough test when they return to league action against second- placed West Brom at The Hawthorns on Saturday, October 17.

And Pearce added that there was no extra pressure for Reading in front of the home fans, despite not winning in the league at Madejski Stadium since beating Wolves 1-0 on January 27, more than nine months ago.

He added: “There’s not a lot you can do apart from just keep on plugging away, keep trying to do the right things and I’m sure we’ll get the monkey off our backs.

“We always look forward to every game we play in whether it’s at home or away so there is no negative influence on us playing at home.”